Her
by Blasberg
Summary: Late on a rainy night,the Bates household has settled down for the evening. Norma decides to take in some light reading before turning in. Little does she know that someone is outside, watching every move she makes.
1. Chapter I

_**Author's Note**_

_**My first piece after some years. Bates Motel is an incredibly well made show and my deciding to write a piece based on it is a mark of that.**_

_**Don't own any characters from Bates Motel. **_

The road is wet from the rain that fell earlier. The smell of the cleansing downpour still hung in the air. Sheriff Alex Romero slowly comes driving up the road. The noise of the tyres against the gravel makes him wince as he would rather not be seen. He parks his car in the darkness under a huge tree and surveys the house in the distance.

It is a house he knows well. He's been there many times over the course of his life.

But as he sits here in the shadows it seems as if he's seeing a totally new house. It's different. He knows it - but he can't pin down what it is. He's sure, though, that it's got 100% to do with her.

_Her._

That weirdo that was too close to her son. Inappropriately so, some people would say. They just moved here and turned everything upside down. They mixed everything and everyone up and seemed determined to push their roots in further .

Romero was not pleased with himself. Strangely he felt like the rug had been pulled out from under him. And he didn't like it. Normally _he_ was the one that intimidated people. He was the one that reduced people to blithering messes who spilled confessions and half arsed alibis with one look from him.

That was Romero's superpower. A gift if you wanted to call it that. With his quiet intimidating gaze and big daddy reputation he could get anyone to do whatever he wanted.

And now this woman.

_Norma Bates._

She simply waltzed in here, scooped up Keith's business and carried on as if she'd lived here forever. It bothered him. He couldn't tell you why, but it got down beneath his skin and wrenched at something in his gut. That's not how it works in this town.

Romero was a man who took pride in being able to deal with change easily. Holding on to the past was for weak people. People who couldn't deal with whatever life threw at them. It's why he joined the force. Romero thought he could deal with anything and quietly relished the life he had. The life being sheriff afforded him.

He focused his gaze now on the house. It's in complete darkness but for one light in the upper left side. That was Norma's room. He cringed at himself for knowing that.

Her silhouette is clearly visible behind the thin curtains. Walking back and forth. Not in anxiety, though. Slower. She's reading. She's already changed for bed. He could see her robe hanging off her shoulders. Romero sets his jaw and shakes his head.

Why did he come here?

The answer came to him almost immediately.

_To see her._

Why,though? He doesn't like her. The sight of her unnerves him. Those piercing eyes and a mouth that smiles easily but could turn mischievous in a second. Something's wrong with her - with that family. It's plain as day. He _hates_ being in this position. Nothing is clear. He _knows_ that he doesn't like her but he can't keep from seeing her. Physically, she's nothing special. Sure, she's got a nice body but he's had better. So why? Why is he here now on a quiet slightly rainy night when he could be somewhere else. _Anywhere_ else. It seems that the very thing that repels him is the same thing that's drawing him in.

He inhales deeply and drives off with one last glance at the towering old house on the hill.


	2. Chapter II

_**Author's Note.**_

_**Without giving anything away, I would just like to remind all readers that there will be M rated content in this piece and most certainly in this chapter. So if you're not cool with that then,perhaps you should click away. But if you're itching for some Normero then stick around. You might read something you like.**_

_**Also, don't worry too much about whether they're being out of character. Answers will come in later chapters.**_

* * *

It's a rainy night and Norma finds herself in one of the empty cabins in the motel. Standing in front of a large bathroom mirror, not a trace of make-up, Norma looks long and hard at herself. The stark white tiles of the bathroom doesn't spare any mercy in reflecting the life she's lived, on her face. She's getting on in years. She knows it. She feels it. Every time she looks at Norman a part of her sees her mortality.

In that moment - briefly - she _panics_. She feels the time slipping away from her. Like she's just realised that her hands are full with the sands of time and the more she tries to keep the sand from spilling the more it slips away.

God, when is it going to be over? She was supposed to have a life. To go out into the world chasing her dreams, becoming all the things she wanted to be, learning all the lessons she wanted to learn. Now she's still learning lessons, just not the kind she intended.

Dylan had happened at a strange time in her life. It was one of the most cruel things she ever had to deal with. She still had a measure of innocence. She truly believed in the sky being the limit for her. Even at that age, she knew she deserved better and she set her mind on getting just that. However, it didn't take long for that to be taken away from her too. At just the moment when she thought she was free - of _him_ - when it was only her and her idealistic journey through life, she got the news. She's pregnant.

Norma blinks at herself in realisation.

In that moment she's gone back. She feels the same sort of desperation, of helplessness and most clearly - _exhaustion_.

In essence, Norma was simply tired, in every possible way. The charge of raising a child that she had been dealt with early on forced her to grow up. Forced responsibility is never easy and always seems unjust unto whomever it falls. But Norma wasn't the sort of person to give up. She never abandoned the idealistic life she wanted as a teenager. She simply pushed it further down the long schedule of her life.

Always, the thought of one day achieving and now earning that life was the strongest motivator for Norma To keep on fighting. Keep pushing. She deserves a happy life. But it never seems to **_end._**

These thoughts never bodes well for her. It'll only be a matter of time before the weight of her life drops back on her shoulders. And yet-these thoughts are never really far from her mind.

Shaking her head, she slides the shower curtain open and turns on the shower, letting the hot water pour out. Turning back she gathers her hair up into a half way bun and sheds the bathrobe she was wearing.

For a minute she simply stands there, letting the hot water run over her,soaking every inch of her, enveloping her in warmth.

The rain is still pounding away.

The door to the bathroom slowly opens. A tall,dark silhouette is standing in the door frame. Norma, busy lathering herself,is utterly oblivious to this.

The figure moves closer to the bathtub and with one swift move, rips the shower curtain open.

Norma screams. The steam in the shower,making it difficult for her to see who it is,she immediately puts her hands up, trying to cover herself.

Suddenly, two large hands reach out and shakes her by the shoulders.

"Norma! Norma, relax. It's just me. Hey!"

She stops screaming to open her eyes. The concerned and slightly amused face of Alex comes into focus. She drops her arms and bursts into laughter. Punching him lightly on the arm, she says,"You could have called."

"'I wanted to surprise you," he replied.

"No. Next time, call. You scared me half to death. What are you doing here?" She's toying with him.

"I wanted to see you." He bit his lip as his gaze intensified.

"And did you get a good look?" She raised one foot and slowly rubs behind the other one. The picture of coyness.

"Come on, Norma. Aren't you a little past the age of playing games?" he says, half smirking.

Her mouth drops open in mock shock,"What age is that?" He doesn't respond but grins cheekily and takes in the sight of her body.

"Oh is that how it is? No games." She reaches out, grabbing him by the shirt and pulls him into a kiss.

Bracing himself, he kicks off his shoes and steps right into the tub, clothes and everything. Pushing her up against the wall, he deepens the kiss. With the heat of the water and the cool tile against her back, Norma moans audibly, relishing the sensation. Alex hands wanders all over her body, one coming to rest on her butt while the other slightly lifts one of her legs, pulling her closer to him.

She breaks the kiss and furiously starts trying to take off his soaked shirt. He pushes her hands away and pulls her back in for another kiss. He only breaks the kiss to finish pulling off his wet shirt. Throwing it aside he takes her in his arms and lightly kisses her.

He looks at her, a slight smile playing about his lips.

"No, wait take this off." He reaches up and pulls down her halfway bun."There, it looks better down."

He guides her back against the wall and continues massaging her tongue with his own. His kisses are slower and deeper, now. One hand comes up to circle her breast, slightly squeezing her nipple. He bends down to flick his tongue over it, teasing it to attention while massaging the other one. He's taking his time. Bringing both of them together, he sucks on those two hard nipples.

He traces a line from her breast down to her bellybutton - lingering - then he moves on, stopping at the curve of her leg.

He stops to look back at her, closely taking note of her reaction to his touch. Her eyes are closed. As he leans in to kiss her his hand moves down,searching. Her eyebrows go up in surprise and she tries to catch a breath but he pulls her back in.

And at the second his finger found her button, she lets out a long sigh of release.

* * *

Norma shoots up, gasping for air. For a second she is completely disoriented and looks around forcing herself to remember where she is.

It's dark. Glancing at the clock she sees it's 2:30 in the morning. Such a vivid dream. She could almost feel his...ugh! She scoffs, amazed at herself.

She turns around and stretches for the glass of water beside her bed. Taking a sip, she's still trying to wrap her head around that dream

"Romero?" She says his name out loud, almost in disbelief. "Alex."


	3. Chapter III

Norma was up at the crack of dawn the next morning. As the first rays of sunlight fell on her face, her eyes popped open as if she had been doused in cold water. Wearily, she dragged a hand across her face. A small groan escaped her. She did not get much sleep last night. Who would, after a dream like that?

It was so out of the blue. She spent a good bit of time trying to pin down a reason behind it. There must be a reason. Dreams,after all, are made up of all the things perceived before. Every tiny fragment of your life already lived can be skewed and manifest itself in your dreams. Different elements can mix and bring together situations in dreams which you may never have thought of before.

But she never had any sort of encounter with Romero even close to that. It was always a battle of wills with him. He was so stoic and distant; it infuriated her to never knew what he was thinking and - goddamn him - he mastered the art of hiding his emotions. His face never registered any change. She supposed that was an effect of the job. When he first met her, she would have bet anything that he hated her. Already an outsider in a new town, Romero acted like she was trespassing on his property and he merely tolerated her until he could find some use for her.

After the incident with Shelby, something changed in him very slightly. He was a little friendlier to her but - and she truly believed this - she thought that that was the extent of his limited ability to be something other than the sheriff. Something other than being the big daddy of the town. Already faced with not one but two major drug businesses operating in the area, of course Romero had his plate full. Sometimes,it seemed he was doing all he could to keep a sense of justice in the community. He was still stuck in sheriff mode 24 hours a day, though.

Still deep in thought, Norma got out of bed and started to get dressed. She chose a sunny yellow, cotton dress that cinched in at the waist. She loved this dress. She always felt beautiful when she wore it.

She went down to start breakfast; Norman would be up soon. She goes to the fridge and takes out a box of milk and a carton of eggs. Scrambled eggs. She whipped the eggs together and flared up the old gas. Adding a pat of butter, she watched it swirl around as it melted. She added the eggs and gently started stirring them.

_But what does it all mean,though?_

She grows frustrated. Norma hated it when things happened to her that was beyond her control and understanding. It was a different kind of powerlessness and if it's one thing Norma hated, it's being helpless.

"Mom, you're burning it." Norman had come downstairs. She jumped out of her reverie and looked down. Smoke was indeed coursing out of the charred eggs in the frying pan.

"What were you thinking about,mother? He takes the pan off the heat and throws the eggs away. She shakes off thoughts of Romero for good.

"Uh...the bypass. I can't believe they've restarted work on it."

He puts his arm around her. "Don't worry, mother. Something'll turn up."

"Yeah. Or we'll have to turn something up," she replied. "I'm going to go down to a City Council meeting see if I can oppose it. They can't do this to us. I've gotta find some old documents, though. You want me to make you some more eggs?"

"No, I'll just have a sandwich. I'm going down to the theatre. There's a lot of stuff yet to do."

* * *

Emma's already in by the time Norma gets down to the office. "Good morning, Emma. Listen, could you take over the desk? I've gotta look for some papers. I'm not sure if they're here or up at the house but I really don't want to be disturbed,ok?"

"Ok, sure. It's a bit slow today, anyway." Emma replied.

Norma goes into the parlour and eyes the stack of boxes in the corner. She's been meaning to sort through those old document and now necessity moved the task up on her schedule. She had to find those documents. With a sigh she dives right in. As she's begins shifting some of the boxes around, she hears the office door open. Thinking nothing of it, she carries on her search until -

"Hey, Emma. Listen,you got any rooms available?"

Romero! What was he doing here so early in the morning? And asking for a room, no less?

"_You_ want to book a room?" Hearing this, Norma shakes her head. Emma's a sweet girl but doesn't seem to know how to be discreet with her curiosity. She quietly goes out to the front desk. Norma's a little on edge to see him in the flesh so soon. That dream was forcing her to think of him in a totally new way.

"You're staying with us?

"Uh..yeah," he answers, vague as always.

"Well,why? What happened to your place?

He frowns. He resents all the questions.

"I don't want to get into it right now. It's been a long night."

"Well, come on. We're not getting into anything .It's a simple question." He stares at her. _We're not getting into anything._

"Someone, burnt my house down,ok?

"What?," her eyes wide, in this circumstance,even Norma couldn't hide her curiosity." Who'd be brave enough to do that?"

"Look,I said don't want to get into it. Could I just check in?

"Yeah. OK. Emma'll sort you out." She turns to go back into the parlour.

"Actually, Norma, could I see you alone for a minute?

"Yeah, sure." They exit the office. Rain is starting to drizzle.

"Hey, uh, the other day I saw you throwing someone out of your house. A guy. It looked kind of rough. Anyone been bothering you?" he's trying to hide his true concern.

Norma gives him with a piercing look. The look he has come to associate with her lying to him. She smiles - a second too late.

"Oh, that was my brother, Caleb. He stopped by to see us. Just passing through town. We...uh, we had a falling out when we were younger and he tried to make up but...' She leaves it hanging.

He knows she's lying. Norma thinks she's a convincing liar unaware that he almost always sees through it. Still. he feels awkward for prying."Well let me know." He turns and heads towards his Jeep.

She returns to her boxes. Stops. "When did he see that? Has he been spying on me?" She reconsiders and decides that it's not worth poring over. Secretly, she was glad to know that he cared - even if just a little bit - for her.


	4. Chapter IV

**_If you've seen Psycho(1960) reading this might be a bit more enjoyable to you as I've included one or two elements from the original film._**

* * *

**_2 Days Later_**

The night is still but for the occasional car driving by on the main road. All the guests of the Bates Motel have already retired to their rooms and doused their lights. All but one. Romero is sitting on the porch just outside his cabin in complete darkness, a cigarette dangling from his lips. He had kicked the habit a long time ago but succumbs to the temptation whenever he found himself in any sort of situation of which he was losing grip. It was only two days since he moved into the motel but it seemed longer than that.

The smoke rises and swirls around him like a cloud, almost obscuring him but he doesn't notice. He's lost in thought.

Every morning, he rises early and hurries off, spending as much time as he reasonably could away from the place. Away from _her_. It was against his better judgement that he decided to stay at the Bates Motel after losing his house but it was an untameable force that led him to it. The same force that had been leading him to stop by the place every other night before he went home for the past month. He had minimal, almost non-existent, contact with her as he was away during the day and by the time he returned she was already getting ready for bed.

Living in such close proximity to her, however, meant that she was never really far from his mind and those few minutes just before he fell asleep each night he thought about her more than ever.

He had begun to understand his feelings towards Norma Louise Bates. She's one of the few people that can look him in the eye and contradict him. He had become so accustomed to the reaction that he generated in people that when she turned up he was more than taken aback. Sure, she was intimidated by him-her eyes betrayed her in this, but she doesn't let that get in the way. If she has something to say to him, she says it. She's has an inextinguishable spark in her. Some unknown driving force that constantly pushes her.

He cringes in the dark and crushes the cigarette butt with his shoe. It's finally sunk in but he doesn't like it. He's annoyed because his regard for her transcends physical attraction. Her strength and resilience pulls him in. But she's not always the strong willed woman she likes to be. She has her moments of weakness - which takes everything out of her. Like him,she doesn't take to being manipulated and controlled and if backed into a corner,boy she really can lose it. Romero's seen her in these helpless times and though he's slightly unsettled by her hyper nuttiness he also feels slightly protective of her. And,if he was honest with himself, that nuttiness that she manifests might even be a little endearing.

The loud noise of an approaching vehicle draws Romero out of his thoughts. Dylan's truck drives swiftly around the corner and comes to a stop with a screeching halt. He gets out, slamming the door behind him and walks away in the direction of the house. He is clearly hacked off about something. Or at least Romero thought so. He'd never really seen Dylan in any other mood besides; the kid had something hanging over him.

A minute later Norman is dropped off by the Brennan kid. He waves good night to her and watches as she drives away. Ignoring the motel, he turns and heads straight for the house.

Suddenly from somewhere within the house the heated sounds of an argument carries down. Romero swiftly jumps to his feet and starts for the house, retracing Norman's path. He walk around to the back where he knows the kitchen is. Standing just outside the door,he's torn between the urge to go in and break it up or to ignore them because its a family matter. He decides to wait and see if it escalates.

From within he can hear Norma screaming,"He raped me,Dylan! When we were kids. Over - and - over."

Dylan's cold voice shoots back,"That's a lie,he told me the truth. You got knocked up by some guy and you used him to get out of the house. You're not fucking with my head, any more, Norma."

Norma's voice is dripping with rage. Through the thin curtains Romero sees her stalk over to Dylan."How dare you? How _dare you_?! You weren't there. You don't know. He shows up here, comes into my house and then you - he feeds you this bullshit - and you believe him. That bastard is a monster!"

"No,_you're_ a liar."

Dylan's stubbornness drives her over the edge and she lunges at him. He pushes her away from him and she lands hard against something. The sound is loud enough for Romero to hear. His nostrils flare as he hears Norman joining in,"She not lying! You get away from her!" The sounds of a hard scuffle. Norma is screaming at the two of them to stop. Romero has his hand on the doorknob, ready to burst in when -

"Stop! It's not his fault! It's his father. Caleb is his father."

Romero's freezes where he is. An eternity passes. He hears Norma say the words plain as if she was whispering it in his ear. The words he had thought was a lie two days ago.

"..._that was my brother stopped by to see us_..." _"we...uh, we had a falling out..."_

After a minute he shakes off his shock and stares at his hand still clutching the doorknob. He immediately lets go as if it sent a shock up his arm. No sounds are coming from within. Suddenly he hears the front door open and sees Dylan hurrying down those long steps. Half a minute later the engine of his truck flares to life and he drives away.


End file.
